''Escape from Singe's Castle'', also known as ''Dragon's Lair Part II - Escape From Singe's Castle'', is a 1987 video game from

Software Projects Software Projects was a computer game development company which was started by ''Manic Miner'' developer Matthew Smith (games programmer), Matthew Smith, Alan Maton and Colin Roach. After leaving Bug-Byte as a freelance developer, Smith was abl ...

. The game is sometimes referred to as ''Dragon's Lair II'', but is not the official arcade sequel '' Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp''.

Gameplay

Players control Dirk the Daring, the player character from ''

Dragon's Lair ''Dragon's Lair'' is a video game franchise created by Rick Dyer. The series is notable for its film-quality animation by ex-Disney animator Don Bluth, and complex decades-long history of being ported to many platforms. It has also been adapte ...

'', who has returned to the lair of Singe the dragon in order to claim a pot of gold. Singe has laid traps throughout his lair, forcing players to guide Dirk across a number of differently themed screens in order to steal the gold and escape. In the 8 bit versions, there are eight different levels. In the 16-bit version, Dirk is supposed to rescue Daphne again, this time from the Shapeshifter. Unlike the earlier 8-bit version, this is a

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

-based

interactive movie Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but ...

, like its predecessor, where the player is supposed to choose the correct movement for Dirk in the right time.

Development

Bethesda Softworks Bethesda Softworks LLC is an American video game publisher based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was founded by Christopher Weaver in 1986 as a Division (business), division of Media Technology Limited. In 1999, it became a subsidiary of Z ...

developed the

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

version of the game in 1989. An

Apple IIGS The Apple IIGS (styled as II) is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Inc., Apple Computer beginning in September 1986. It is the fifth and most powerful model of the Apple II family. The "GS" in the name stands for "Graphics and Sound" ...

version had reportedly been completed by ReadySoft and scheduled to be released in 1991 (manuals from other ports list detailed IIGS-specific loading instructions and features), but was never publicly released. In 2022, decades later with the original ReadySoft port still missing or lost, Brutal Deluxe created and released a new Apple IIGS port based on the PC version.

Reception

Allen L. Greenberg reviewed the ReadySoft game for ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

'', and stated that "''Dragon's Lair II: Escape From Singe's Castle'' is an odd creature, an exceptional program which suffers from uninteresting game-play."

References

External links

*
Escape from Singe's Castle at Lemon64

Escape from Singe's Castle at World of Spectrum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Escape From Singe's Castle 1987 video games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Apple IIGS games Atari ST games Bethesda Softworks games Classic Mac OS games Commodore 64 games DOS games Dragon's Lair Electronic Arts games Single-player video games Software Projects games Video games developed in the United Kingdom ZX Spectrum games